#fully against shitty antis

[actuallycassidyiambusy]

Hi there!

Are you proship? Just curious, no hate /gen

On that note, how/ why did you choose that stance and what're your thoughts on those of the opposite spectrum?

Hi😁

Okay, so here's the thing. I am absolutely, undeniably, both feet in the water, proship. I don't give a fuck what people are into when it comes to fiction. I really don't. Because it's fiction. It's fake. I'm not gonna get all bent out of shape because people play with their dolls differently than I do. That's a waste of energy.

Huge age gap? Fuck yeah, dude.

Monster fucking/humanxbeast ships? Fuckin BET.

Toxic relationship where they're both obsessed? 🔥

Cannibal/vamp/killer ship tropes? I'M HOOKED.

One sided/stalking/kidnapping ships? Abso-fuckin-lutely.

Pet play ships? Hell yeah, brother.

Incest ships? Not really my cup of cocoa, but hey, you do you, dude. It's not hurting me any.

Priest fuckers? And demon/priest ships? Can't get enough of that shit.

Self shippers? Hell fuckin yeah, you get that fictional character's attention, baby.

I could literally keep going, but I'm sure you get the point. In my opinion, people can ship whatever they want as long as they aren't hurting or harassing real people. Do I count antis getting triggered over a drawing or fic as hurt? Nah. I'm talking physical/emotional harm or relentless harassment. You know, the shit antis do to US. From what I've seen, proshippers just wanna play with their toys without some anti coming and kicking over their sandcastle because it's not the way THEY would have built it.

As far as people who prefer to stay away from the proships, that's okay. It's okay not to enjoy something. It's okay to see something and be like "Eh. Not for me." But that's it. That's where it should stop.

What I'm not okay with, and I've said it before, is the pointless attacks and the superiority complexes. The people who feel the need to pound their opinions into your head. These certain people who get offended by proship and think the whole world has to stop and filter/censor themselves for their benefit. I'm not gonna cradle someone who feels the need to cry and complain about lines on paper.

You don't like something? I can respect that. Move on. But leave people alone for fuck's sake. You know what I mean? What is the fucking point of going on someone else's post and telling them to hurt or kill themselves? What's the point of seeing someone's work and instead of scrolling past like an adult, they write some huge paragraph as to why we're going to hell and they're better than us in every way? The same goes for proshippers who attack other proshippers. I don't get it. The name calling, the fucking one sided dick measuring contests, the holier than thou mindsets. Over a drawing or a fic? Really? C'mon.

There are ships out there I really just don't like, but damn I can appreciate some good ass art when I see it. I won't seek out a fic on a ship I don't like just so I can leave some shitty comment. I will never be some anti screaming into the void of the fucking internet because someone drew or wrote about a problematic ship. I don't like to argue about this stuff, but I will defend myself and I will defend other people who just wanna play pretend.

Something antis need to understand is "DNI" works both ways. Don't like it? Don't interact with it then. Plain and simple.

[mischiefwife]

Hey, think twice before supporting the BG3 Stardew mod.

Saw this nice looking Stardew Valley mod with BG3 characters, pretty quickly knew something was off when you see Halsin/Astarion/Rolan front and center with no mention of Wyll at all.

Then we get this whopper of a cry post, maybe suggesting they can't be anti-black because they're not white? They can't show misogyny cause they're women? They can't be blamed at all because they're just polling their PATREON votes? Fucking do better. Can't even hide behind the usual excuse that it's a free fanwork, it's not.

Fandom's got a racism and misogyny problem. Step up and draw the line with these creators crying victim when asked 'where's Wyll?' (And yes I checked, the replies are 90% positive and 10% where's Wyll, where's the women) when you've already fully developed your random minor npc first. Team members being made uncomfortable translates to being called out for contributing to a lil' racism.

The misogyny hydra and the racism in fandom runs deep i know, but for the love of fuck can we push back against it?

Or you can side with the mod's supporters (this is one of the devs actually lol). Who post things like this.

And the creators don't say a fucking thing at all about it, they just keep playing victim. It would be so easy to approach this system with a SMIDGEN of respect, just acknowledging the racism at all. Seriously BG3 fandom. Demand better.

I don't give a shit if they're the most popular, there's also a REASON why Wyll is not. But if you want to just eat this shit up and contribute making your fandom shitty and uninviting, by all means.

[wilyserpentofeden]

In light of the continuing allegations against Neil Gaiman I want to be sure people know I believe the women who are coming forward, and I am disappointed in him but somehow not surprised wrt all the other famous men who have done the same. I'm not sure how I'll proceed with this blog in the future, but I have absolutely no interest in defending or financially supporting a sex pest and I want to make sure that is crystal clear. Some additional points that have been bugging me:

Terfs cannot keep tying the allegations to his support of trans rights as some sort of 'gotcha' to frame trans rights or trans people in a negative light, he is a cisgender man who abused his wide influence due to fame, which there are many cases of. The vitriol should be aimed at other cisgender men abusing their wide influence, and those who perpetuate rape culture. Preaching to the choir here because terfs won't listen to me but whatever.

additionally, my fellow trans ppl need to consider that even transphobes can be victims of SA, and allegations against a fully cisgender man who happens to have pro-trans politics doesn't mean any allegation is a transphobic conspiracy, it might just mean someone with bad politics was legitimately assaulted, and that's still bad because literally nobody should be assaulted. (Edit: the story got twisted somewhere along the line and it seems that there was just a TERF involved in reporting the story, and it is not even certain what the politics of the women who were assaulted were, in which case my point still stands, literally nobody should be assaulted and it is not an anti trans conspiracy if someone even vaguely adjacent to TERF-dom experienced assault.)

and finally, other Good Omens fans cannot keep making excuses for him based on technicalities simply to keep their conscience clean or to keep a parasocial relationship in tact because even the most innocent sounding and vaguely legal versions of the story that people are passing around are still markers of incredibly shitty and creepy behavior on his part and he should be held responsible for being shitty and creepy rather than have his fanbase make excuses for a grown ass man. He is in his 60s and he is very famous, he does not need you to defend him for horrible things he has done, and you do not need to parasocially hold on to him. Remember this when he inevitably returns to Tumblr and tries to proceed as normal once he assumes the allegations have been forgotten.

[celli-ohs]

If you are a HYBE supporter, MHJ anti, or NJS anti unfollow me right now. Block me even. My blog is not for you.

I've been collecting my thoughts about the MHJ/NJS v HYBE issue for quite some time now, but with the recent speech the girls made at KGMA, Belift filing a new complaint and demanding 2 billion won, and MHJ claiming Belift is using Illit as a shield, I cannot take the idiocracy any more.

The amount of misinformation being spread on basically all platforms, but exclusively on TikTok and X, is astounding. More than half of the time I'll see a tweet it's just straight up harassment towards the NJS girls. How can anyone with a sane mind read that and think "Yeah, this is appropriate to post onto the internet for the entire world to see, something that will be linked to me and my digital footprint forever". I'm not saying this only for NJS though, I've seen some nasty toxic Bunnies post heinous things about the Illit members, just because of something their company or CEO said/did. This issue has nothing to do with Illit, Le Sserafim, or any other group that was mentioned/involved, OTHER than NEWJEANS. All of this has to do with HYBE and specific staff, including the new ADOR staff.

I was a Bunny way before I was a Moa or an Engene. NewJeans was the first kpop group I'd bought an album for. I was listening to them not even really knowing they were a kpop group. They're so popular that at my old job they played their songs on the radio, which is how I discovered them. I owe it to them for introducing me to so many amazing groups, people, and cultures. Without knowing them, I wouldn't even know what HYBE and their other groups (besides BTS obvi) were. Currently, NJS is one of the few groups (both girls and boys) I fully stan. I'm proud to stan them too, they are an amazing group of girls who are talented, and full of hope and positivity. They're impact on not only South Korea, but the entire globe is and that is an incredible feat. And I don't want to dismiss any other groups achievements, as a fan of kpop it's exciting to me whenever there's positive news about any group, we should all be able to uplift and support one another, not tear each other down.

That is why I find it so heartbreaking to see toxic fans hating and harassing NJS and Bunnies. I always thought kpop fans held such a great community, no matter what groups you liked. We all share the same interest, same musical genre. To watch people who are so blinded by anger and rage, brainwashed by a greedy dictatorial company, and paint five young women/girls as the devil incarnate, it's sickening. I've seen people say that NJS are idiots, pretending to be victims, that they are actively looking to be groomed. How do you feel as a human being, to claim these things (and more bad things!) about five people you've never even met before? Have you heard them say this? From their own mouths? From their own will? I just don't understand why we as fans have to constantly fight each other over the menial things, when the larger and more concerning problem(s) are dismissed.

I've seen a lot of HYBE supporters recently site the hardships of their faves, attempting to use it against NJS in hopes of defaming them and discrediting/invalidating their mistreatment. This makes zero sense to me. Do these people not realize that they are essentially saying that idols/trainees must suffer in order to debut/be "good enough"?? You'd rather your faves struggle and just accept that their company is shitty and will treat them horribly than to see them have good treatment that they deserve?? "Enhypen had a broken A/C unit in their practice room, but they didn't complain" Be so fucking for real right now. "TXT used to practice in a moldy room, it was growing mushrooms but they never cried about it." And you sound like you want to keep them there with that statement. Idk about you, but if I had the power to help in any way for my faves to have an easier time pre/post-debut, I would do it in a heartbeat.

There's a lot of misogyny/sexism and racism linked to the hate train towards NewJeans. Antis are constantly claiming that only "old predatorial men" are their fans (when in reality most Bunnies are young women themselves!). I've seen many tweets where people are lying, saying that MHJ is prostituting the girls, and that whenever they are photographed within the vicinity of a man they are selling their bodies to gain popularity. There is no actual proof of any of this. The only "old men" who are seemingly sexualizing NJS are Belift. Separately, the racism towards Hanni for being Vietnamese is also disgusting. Not just antis on X, but that SNL Korea skit where they make fun of her accent, that was not okay. Racism has nothing to do with the issue of mistreatment within HYBE, and that is bullying. Anyone who believes they are allowed to hate on NewJeans because they are women or because a member isn't Korean needs to reevaluate their morals because that is an infringement of human rights.

TXT is my ult group, and Enhypen is my second favorite group. Both of them are under HYBE as well, which puts me in an odd spot as a fan of the three groups. But in all honesty, I do not like HYBE, I do not condone anything they've done that hurts any of their artists. And looking at their track record... they've hurt their artists a lot, and not just NJS. If we look at Belift specifically, the way they treat Enhypen is unfair. The release of their internal documents says it all: Belift as a company knows and understands that the Enhypen members are exhausted and overworked, yet they dismiss it and force them to continue pushing. Never-ending tours and comebacks, forced promotions of brands that support the genocide of Palestine, rejecting brand ambassadorships for Sunoo, I'm sure there's more that I missed. If Enhypen has been and still is being treated this way, I cannot imagine what they might do to Illit, as if they hadn't already set these girls up. Those girls don't deserve the hate either. All I can ask for is for both groups to be treated like human beings, and not pay pigs. It hurts me to see the members in so much pain and exhaustion.

With TXT I do admit I see more leniency towards them, and my guess is because they are under Bighit, and are directly BTS's juniors. But when I see stuff like them also being constantly overworked, using Yeonjun to belittle other idols who are his friends, favoring certain members over others, etc. I'm reminded that my ult group also suffers under the hand of HYBE. Even though TXT is successful and popular, that doesn't mean everyone (including their company) will treat them with respect. I've seen some people on X send hate/concern towards Soobin specifically, as he did speak on Weverse (I think) about how TXT focused on their comeback rather than the lawsuit/complaints against HYBE and MHJ. And to be honest, I can understand why some people felt a bit disappointed or hurt by him saying this because honestly, I was a little as well. But mainly I felt this way because I knew he would say something like this, he was probably told to say this to not start more drama. It's a safe option because it's a true fact, they all have been too busy to really be able to interject into this situation that does not technically involve them. As fans, we only know what we're shown, and as a Moa I just hope all the members are safe, healthy, and are treated with kindness.

Seventeen's Seungkwan's statement on his IG is such a beautifully written letter, and it shows and proves that even senior artists can and will be used by their companies for profit as if they aren't human beings. It's so dehumanizing, what these companies do to their groups. Because at the end of the day, not only is it HYBE (who is admittedly a very big perpetrator) it's the entire industry. You could name any company, and at some point, they'd mistreated their artist. This is why I support NewJeans and their endeavor to better the lives of idols and trainees. These five women/girls know and understand that what is happening to them is not humane. The amount of sabotage towards a successful group like them is so backward, it makes no sense. Whether or not you classify it as bullying, no one should hear others being told to ignore them, especially in a culture like Korea's where greetings are so significant. Stopping a comeback and surprise fansign from happening for an unknown reason is unfair. Documenting the plan and intention to get rid of the entire group as a whole and replace them with a junior group that needs more time to train is downright despicable.

To NewJeans: I'm so sorry for what you all have been through. Thank you for being the smart, strong, and brave young ladies you are. I will always support you and love you. Thank you for creating beautiful music, videos, and content. I'm so happy to be a fan of kpop, and so proud to be a Bunny! Wherever you go I will follow with much love!

To my followers: I still plan to write for TXT and Enhypen. I still love them very much, despite their shitty company. Personally, I've learned to separate my writing from the companies, because, at the end of the day, I'm writing about my own storylines and plots that I created. Besides, it's fiction and 99% of my works are fluff and crack which does not harm anyone. But if you have a problem with my opinions/views on this situation regarding HYBE and NJS, then my blog isn't for you.

[love-byers]

Hi!! I binge-read some of your byler analysis, along with other users', and I can't help but STILL feel on the fence about hoping for byler endgame. I guess I just don't want to get my hopes super high only for them to be crushed by whatever CGI fest the düff3rs got in store to "go out with a bang" (while, obvs, sticking to the status quo and what they think the GA wants to see). I've seen so many intelligent people write media criticism pieces and analysis in support of the ship, but I still dread that the writers cry plausible deniability on all the clues they DID lay, that the people behind the N*f1ix social media accs confess that they've willingly posted queerbait to boost their engagement and thus get a bigger paycheck (I wouldn't blame them if they did, obvs; besides, it still means that some higher-up approved those misleading posts) and, worst of all, that this whole thing may end up blowing up negatively like the JohnLock conspiracy or the Voltron shenanigans or, y'know, the Supernatural fandom after Castiel's introduction and up until that lame ass final season. In your opinion, what makes byler different? Is there real hope for a satisfying mlm relationship from a show made by het men that capitalizes on 80s nerd culture nostalgia?

Sorry for coming off so jaded: I do wish for a byler ending, but it's been hard to keep my hopes aflame against these worries :c

i think everyone has some amount of doubt, which is totally understandable.

lgbt representation has come a long way, but a lot of us fans who are a bit older grew up consuming media that either had no representation or shitty representation. we sought ourselves in the media we loved and never found it, and corporations exploited that. nowadays there's way more representation that isn't left up to interpretation or censored, but a lot of the time that's in shows that are about romance and drama, high school a lot of the time. which is great, but stranger things is a sci fi show with romantic sub plots. it's easy for queer characters to end up being left out of a show like ST, but they haven't been at all.

one of the big messages of ST is embracing weirdness and being different. loving whatever it is you love, unashamed. when a character strays from being their true self or pushes away the things they love, there are consequences for the character. they become less likable to the audience. the entire theme of s4 is living in the truth, not hiding things, embracing love, being misunderstood simply because you're different. all of that is very queer coded. and it happens to be the season where will's love for mike fully comes into light.

there has been so much thought put into stranger things. the duffers have said there are no coincidences. they put thought into everything, thats why it takes so long to make a season, because they care so much. there are endless details i could point out not related to romance. they've also said they've been set on the ending for a while and will not be changing it to please people. i believe they said some people might not like the ending, but they don't care because they're making the story THEY want. which so far has uplifted queer people and promoted being different. so some antis may call be stupid for trusting them, but im choosing to. i believe they'll do these characters justice.

and my favorite quote from them is "The best plot twists don't make the audience say "wow I never saw that coming!", it makes you say "I should have seen that coming."

as a writer and a creative writing major, i definitely look up to the writers of ST. they are all incredibly talented and i hope one day i can put this much thought and love into a project. and, as a writer, i cannot see them throwing mike and will's relationship down the drain.

so, what makes byler different? there's very few shows where this much thought is put into everything. its not debatable that they do that, they've said it and its evident if you watch the show. so i refuse to believe all of these things between mike and will are just coincidences or accidents. there's just no possible way. i definitely had a klance phase and i can confidently say voltron writing is nowhere near the level of ST, and neither is supernatural. supernatural is one of those shows that has a lot of seasons and has gone all over the place in terms of writing and plot. the duffers have known the ending to this story since season 1. and unlike those shows with lots of seasons, ST only has 5. it won't be dragged on and beaten like a dead horse like some shows.

you don't have to completely eliminate your doubt. even i have doubt even after all i've said and posted. there is simply no way to confirm what'll happen before s5 releases, and they want it that way. just hold on until s5 friend

[gwemmieee]

Hey, have you ever examined the deep fear, paranoia, and shame you feel whenever you try to examine or voice something you feel deep down that you're worried someone else might take issue with? Don't you feel bad about all the subtle ways it renders you less able to know yourself, love yourself, express yourself, and advocate for yourself? If you're thinking about all that social anxiety horror that Super Eye Patch Wolf just talked about, and if you're so utterly afraid of standing out or going against the crowd--this is related to that.

It's probably because you think it's good to call someone out before it's proven that they are knowingly and willfully causing harm. It's probably because you think people should be punished if they harm someone period, even if it was by accident or without knowing. Even if it might have just been a misunderstanding and no real harm done was anyone's fault. And it's only fair that the same standard applies to you as well, isn't it?

It's probably because you've internalized that your value as a human being deserving of love and community can be reduced or eliminated if you say something wrong enough loudly enough. It's probably because, even if you do not ascribe to thought crime, and you agree that we should not demonize ourselves or each other for our own thoughts and feelings as long as we put in the work to be good with our actions, you tripped at the finish line when you forgot about the basic fact of human psychology that we can't translate negative thoughts into positive action without being able to speak about it openly in a space where others will truly understand how we feel, and not just skip straight to the part where feeling that way is already cringe before you've actually fully internalized your own growth past it.

It's probably because you have privilege as someone who has ever had access to real friends/family who stand by you no matter what heinous shit you say or do, and that privilege has enabled you to learn a lot very quickly about how to appear as a good person in society, because those friends/family allowed you to actually feel supported as a human being with feelings before you knew better, which is a hard prerequisite to ever knowing better, and you have not examined that privilege.

It's probably because you think you can sniff out who's good or bad just on vibes and act as judge, jury, and executioner, instead of focusing on harm reduction for anyone who you know was hurt and learning some hard realities about human interaction. For example, being ignorant is not the same as acting on that ignorance. Voicing ignorance without aggression and then being willing to learn something is actually a good thing for others to view in public, because it teaches valuable lessons to everyone paying attention, and anyone who feels validated and empowered to be shitty from such an exchange was just looking for an excuse.

I think this knowledge is something that we feminists should stand for. Anti-militancy. I know it's hard to tell here on this gremlin-ass modern internet for many of us due to circumstances beyond our control, but when you actually go outside and have friends IRL, you'll notice that feminine people out there already understand most of this.

Remember when we used to talk about being tolerant of everything except intolerance? Well, this is part of that. You're not supposed to dehumanize someone and ignore their feelings just for sounding racist one time. You're supposed to try to educate them or, failing that, practice harm reduction (which can escalate into a callout if they're truly a bad actor). Punching nazis is for when you literally fucking know that someone is willfully being harmful (perhaps because they're platforming hate). Most of them don't just cosplay as nazis in easy ways to pick out. That's why fascists are so insidious and good at infiltrating spaces. Each of us has a desperate hope that I am the one, it's me, I can be able to know at a glance who is good or bad, without taking the time and effort to get to know them first. And they prey on that. They use that to make us fight each other instead of them.

"Oh, but Gwemmie, does this mean you're defending X or Y person?" I dunno, how does their situation compare to what I just said? This post was inspired by the many times I have been dogpiled and ostracized for openly using language in autistic ways that have been confused for bigotries or insensitivities that just weren't in my speech or my thoughts (usually because those doing the dogpiling put words in my mouth, didn't parse a sentence correctly, or just decided to be ableist and go off vibes instead of what I very openly say). If you come in here thinking I'm making this post to subtweet about anyone else, you're part of the problem.

[jichanxo]

playing LJ and idk what’s in the japanese water but Yagami is INSUFFERABLE!!!

He’s so fucking annoying his only argument is “muhhh sawa sensei” when Kuwana, Reiko or Ehara say the horrible things their kids endured like SHUT UP!!!! Reiko and Ehara’s children killed themselves bc they were bullied, I understand and support them fully for getting revenge, especially since the justice system is shitty when it comes to such cases

Did you feel the same or am I tripping?

putting this under the cut

sorry i know you sent this days ago and maybe your opinion has changed since then but i'll answer the best i can? (also i hope i don't accidentally spoil anything ahahah)

this take is not uncommon (and i felt the same at some point, though i've since changed my mind) so no, you're not tripping lmao. despite changing my mind, the fact that people say this pretty regularly probably means the writers didn't execute the idea as well as they could have. i would say that it feels clumsy and almost like a joke (cue sawa-sensei counter) to the point that it detracts from the point they're trying to make. i think some people will disagree with me on this -- rather than the writers, it's the players who aren't fully understanding what's being said to them in the text -- but regardless of whose "fault" that is, yes it's a Known Thing

(funnily enough, during my first playthrough, my sister mentioned seeing a meme about "sawa sensei" getting repeated a lot, and by the time the 2nd/3rd time hit we were like OH MY GOD THE MEME WAS REAL. which is a funny memory to me. lmao)

i think the thing that's getting lost here is that the "sawa sensei" argument is not meant to discredit how kuwana, reiko and ehara feel about the injustice. this part is not in question. yagami's stance on doing illegal shit is also not relevant to this conversation (and i'm not sure i could provide a compelling argument on this front anyway, aside from that he's very anti-murder, lol. clearly he does illegal shit himself so he's not against doing illegal shit based on principle alone. depends on circumstances probably)

sawa gets brought up because she clearly did not deserve to die. almost everyone agrees that sawa was a good person. kuwana puts her on a pedestal for confronting him about kusumoto being bullied, idealises her and muses that she would've understood him for what he's doing (killing people. and this is clearly a stretch). reiko says that sawa was the only person who visited kusumoto in hospital without an ulterior motive, which is one of the best testaments of character that she could give, really, imo. ehara probably holds a negative opinion of sawa for her false testimony about there being no evidence of bullying -- but this was clearly done under pressure of the people around her, and ehara's opinion is the exception to the rule.

so, sawa is a good person. so what? who cares? what's the point of bringing her up?

the point of what kuwana is doing is that he sees it as a way of righting the wrongs that the justice system leaves unaddressed. he needs to believe that what he is doing is right, because it gives him purpose and distracts him from his guilt.

sawa's death contradicts this. even if he and reiko didn't kill her themselves, it's proof that their extreme actions have negative consequences. they can say that the system is wrong, look what this monster did to my son, etc etc. but what they are doing also harms innocent people. the justice/revenge/whatever they pursue is at the cost of other innocent people. sawa herself represents the unforeseen cost of kuwana's self-imposed mission to kill bullies. they can justify themselves all they want, but sawa's death is a reality they can't talk around. they acknowledge she was a good person, but she died because of their actions. is this a worthwhile cost? yagami doesn't think so.

and the thing is, kuwana and reiko can be persuaded.

at least, that's kuwana's opinion about reiko

and later he says this about himself.

these screenshots are pulled from a youtube video w/ english dub so take it with a grain of salt, but you get what i'm trying to say here.

i think the repetition is the point. they agree sawa was a good person. they can be persuaded away from their current stance (that murder is an acceptable response). by repeating himself, yagami is using the argument that's most personal to them, mostly likely to convince them. repetition is not a bug, it's a feature. whether or not this was conveyed well by the writers is another argument altogether, but yagami's point itself is sound.

truthfully, i think LJ could have benefitted by leaning into what makes this case personally compelling to yagami. if you're not paying attention, the "but sawa sensei" argument can feel pretty flat, but putting emphasis on yagami's experiences would help it feel more rich and justified aside from "innocent people dying is bad" (even though that is a sound argument on its own). he does mention emi, i believe it's only once, so it's not like they don't do it at all, but i would like more. the impact of emi and of JE specifically is that yagami doesn't like to leave things unaddressed when he can do more, and that's clearly a motivating factor here. he won't leave kuwana alone for as long as there is 1. something yagami can do about it and 2. kuwana still intends to keep killing

think about the fact that yagami's parents were killed by someone seeing vigilante revenge, both a deeply personal tragedy, and a life defining event that set him on the path he walks now. leaning more into that would have helped, or at least been interesting, in my opinion. obviously it's not 100% the same since yagami's father was the lawyer and not the accused, but the key parts (vigilante justice + collateral damage) is there. of course yagami is trying to change kuwana's mind. not only does yagami understand kuwana's pain wrt the pain of inaction (yagami's regrets about emi) but he's experienced the aftermath of collateral damage, himself.

of course, yagami's personal experiences are only relevant to us, as viewers. sawa is still the best argument to convince kuwana and reiko (and i can easily imagine reiko brushing yagami off if he talked about his backstory LMAO), so that's what we get. sawa is what matters to them, so sawa is what he will keep reminding them of. that's why the sawa argument is what it is.

we can get into discussions about the inevitable failure of the legal system and what that means for "real justice", but we would never come to a consensus. instead, i think it's better to look at how kuwana and reiko are impacted on a personal level by their actions: neither of them have moved on, even after seeking their justice. they remain stuck in the past. their actions grant them no closure, and robs them of a future (reiko as a politician and mother, kuwana as a humble handyman: but as far as we know, a pretty damn good one considering how well he was able to leverage his connections to avoid being caught this whole time... at least in my opinion)

when kuwana argues, he asks how they should seek justice if legal avenues don't grant it to them. he asks, "what about the reiko kusumotos and akihiko eharas of the world?" he is right to point this out.

when yagami argues, he asks how revenge can be justified if innocents will suffer (and die) for it, even unintentionally. he asks, "what about the yoko sawas of the world?" he is also right to point this out.

there is no easy solution. they both have a point. that's what the story is ultimately about. kaito says it straight up at the end of the game:

well, that's my take. admittedly i'm not as well versed on LJ as some people are, so i could be remembering and paraphrasing some things wrong. i've seen people who really like LJ's writing, and others who straight up hate it LMAO, so yknow, your mileage may vary. hopefully this will at least help you understand the other perspective

if you want to hear another take on the sawa sensei argument, i'll put this here. i drew on it quite a bit while writing this, so yknow, credit where credit is due.

[ultra-raging-ghost]

Im real nervous main tagging this because ive said my main peace and i dont wanna clog the tag up, but i will say after some context given i have a couple more thoughts?

tw// SA, r//pe mention, etc.

This will be a controversial statement. Me personally, i dont really honestly care? About what he said? It was eight years ago and he hasnt repeated the actions so i dont honestly and truly care what he did eight years ago, he was 19 then hes like 26 now theres honestly and truly a BIG maturity distance between 19 and 26, but also it was. Eight years ago? Thats all i have to say on that?

I Also dont really care for how it was brought to light, from what ive heard from pt speakers the expose was done by someone whos publicly anti towards the Brazilian CCs and ive heard they've dug up some dumb things about pac that werent "hot" enough to get trending i guess and definitely werent condemnable enough to get him cancelled, so it's honestly and truly in my heart something i see as being done in bad faith.

Alongside this, ive seen translation screenshots from one of the "victims" (not sure her stance on being called this so its in quotes) stating she does NOT want to be aligned with these allegations and has changed her username and profile picture because she honestly doesnt wanna be involved and doesnt want it being spread around, this is something else i view as bad faith and if anyone was affected by this then its the best thing to do as they wish, this not only affects the person being called out but also their victim negatively, especially if the victims profile is easily attached to their real life and especially when the victim is a female victim of assault or rape or anything like that, i hate to say it but as an afab person ive seen it firsthand that thats honestly the culture surrounding assault victims, and most people dont want that being brought up or put out in the public. Im a victim myself - people view you differently, it affects platonic and romantic relationships, it affects jobs, you are actively hurting the victim by spreading this if they dont want you to do so and arent prepared for that to be spread around.

From what ive seen, some people are condemning Forever for getting a lawyer - i dont view this as him being automatically guilty. I view this as him getting a lawyer because this person on twitter has been actively harassing not just him but all the brazilian CCs on the QSMP. This is harassment, the case against them will hold up in court and Forever has said he will speak about this more when everything is said and done

Alongside this, i will say im unhappy with Forever specifically for his statement on the situation. It wasnt handled the way we wouldve liked it, but it also wasnt handled via ukelele, it wasnt handled the worst way it could've been. Ive heard pt speakers say it was kind of formal, there was some slang in there but overall i've read the translated statement and to me it sounds more like a legal statement than anything - he mentioned having a lawyer, chances are the lawyer helped him write it. To me it doesnt sound like anything he'd fully say which is why i was so put off by it at first but this makes more sense to me honestly, i dont know if anyone would agree with this.

TL;DR

All in all, i think its a shitty situation but nothing to condemn Forever over. I ask people be thoughtful regarding the girl affected, and dont spread shit around with her name or profile attached to it unless she states otherwise. It was handled badly on Forever's end and blew up WAY too fast on twitter.

I've generally seen people be well behaved on here, ive seen some strong statements but otherwise i like to think we're better than twitter.

This probably wont be my last post on this as we get more on the situation over the next couple days, but this is my main thoughts right now. I'm still choosing to remain neutral, but more mixed than anything.

[closetchaosstuff]

I just came across another post saying how anything criticising JC behaviour is anti survivor or whatever and its just such bullshit 🙄. Like no one is denying his trauma. But guess what, everyone in the novel suffered some kind of trauma. But they didn't go around murdering innocents years down the line.

Yes the Wen attacked lotus pier, but WQ and WN helped JC on great personal risk. How come he can carry grudge from the former but not gratitude from the latter? A-yuan wasn't even born when lotus pier was attacked. None of the Wen were cultivators. Even WQ was a doctor and not a martial cultivator. Yet JC decided that they deserved to die. He led a seige against them.

For all his yapping about debts he never acknowledged his own. And for what? Some post said it was valid since he was still traumatised from his sisters death. And you know what, like genuinely fuck that person. Just because JC's sister died he's allowed to take his pound of flesh from a fucking toddler? From civilians who had never hurt anyone?

If my take on JC screams anti survivor rhetoric you know what your take screams? Abuse apologism. A person having trauma does not excuse their shitty behaviour. Having mental health disorders does not mean you can get away with being an absolutely horrible person. Most serial killers have some sort of trauma. Do you excuse them for it?

I have bipolar disorder and I remember hurting someone one time during a manic phase and I still feel fucking awful about it. Yes it was my disorder but it was still myself hurting that person and I am fully prepared to take responsibility. And with JC the thing is he regrets none of his actions. Maybe he was awfully traumatised after lotus pier and chocked WWX because of that but he never regrets it. He never regrets or tries to change his horrible attitude. That's why he's an awful person. And if anyone of you actually relates to him I would genuinely not want to be associated with you irl.

[solarwynd]

https://x.com/jkzpop/status/1805747713880785276?s=46&t=xZfMNrysfzaHDchIEDZ2ZQ

imagine if th would’ve dropped a song that day… the way these bitches would’ve been crying in every tweet about the streams saying how ths song keep free falling (bc yes it would’ve happened, likee 🥴) but they have the audacity to say they enjoy when “contents overlap” BITCH STFU yall were the ones crying because ygs album didn’t have a single song in the top 50 after a month

There is a part of me that understands why armys would think like this, (apart from them always minimizing transgressions against Jimin.) because people who are OT7 would obviously enjoy a surplus of content at once.

But at the same time, you’re absolutely right. Armys have already shown what they get down like when it comes to Jimin doing better than other members. They were pissed that people part 2 didn’t chart on Hot 100. Saying that the fandom should’ve completely dropped LC which was literally still fresh out, to support that song. The brunt of the bitterness armys harbor for Jimin now stemmed from that. All because of how close FACE and DDay were together. (I still believe had those two been spaced out properly, the blow back wouldn’t have been as bad as it was cause armys really got a lot of false hope from Jimin doing as well as he did)

And given that it would’ve been TH in this case, you know the victimization would’ve been 10x worse. Armys like to act like they don’t pit the members in competition with each other but they do. They for sure would’ve been comparing and contrasting numbers between Jimin and TH. Especially if Jimin would’ve charted in US Spotify and TH didn’t. So of course they’d act nonchalant about it now since it’s just a photo book or even when the songs would’ve initially dropped. But shit would go left throughout tracking week. Like the day Jimin and another BTS member drop a song on the same day is when you’ll really see them put that Jimin anti mask on.

I don’t know how they don’t see how shitty it is that none of the members (apart from JK) can really have a fully realized era or moment to themselves because BH refuses to not let them eat off each other. And have they not been complaining about being burnt out? Having to divide your attention between seven men who drop projects at the rate that they do. Do y’all not want a breather? Can’t even process the music one of them just dropped because you’re already making charting goals for the next member’s comeback. These over lapping releases are part of the reason why some of these other projects can never really have any real longevity. Cause apart from armys not fucking with the music, they immediately have to drop the previous member and focus on the new release since they still can’t multitask. Like that’s not “fun” in my eyes it feels like a burden.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

i think one of the things that upsets me the most about velma and shaggy's relationship in sdmi--and boy there is a lot--is that not only is her constantly ''correcting'' him for minor, harmless, and usually completely reasonable things with physical and emotional abuse, well. abusive by itself. but so many of the things he does that she treats him that way over are very autistic things, and what she subjects him to is textbook abuse aimed at autistics in particular. (including the part where she gets more and more pissed whenever attempts at said emotional abuse fly over his head, because he's too bad at picking up cues for them to land fully.)

[cws: anti-autistic ableism, ABA, self-harm, physical and emotional IPV, victim-blaming, and abuse apologism. it's a lot and it's really fucking bad lmao]

-

like. there's a lot of examples there; shaggy's behavior coming across as autistic is worth a whole post of its own, and a lot of media depicts abuse targeted at autistic traits because ✨️hooray ableism.✨️but she straight up tries to Fix Him (read: force him to perform a Presentable Personality) by forcing him to wear clothes that are sensory hell, and trying to condition him to self-harm every time he does some small harmless, reflexive thing she thinks is Poor Socialization until he stops. and to catch himself doing it, and punish himself, without being prompted. i cannot fucking overstate how fucked up that is.

they even got down the fun little aspect of ABA where the methods of conditioning-through-pain are presented as toys and kiddish things: she gives him a rubber band to wear on his wrist, and tells him to snap it as hard as he can every time he says 'like.' 🙃🙃🙃🙃

like. this does not begin to scratch the surface of the abuse she puts him through in general. and again, characters being abused for autistic traits with the approval of the narrative is a common thing in media, which sucks. but holy fucking shit! they really took the 'violent ableism that is done to autistics irl' to the next fucking level here!

.......and it's portrayed as kind of cringey, immature teen drama on both sides. the self-harm, his dread over how much he knows it'll hurt, and the extreme pain it causes him to the point of screaming are all supposed to be funny. and her arc is all about learning to accept that she deserves better, because she was repressed and had low self-esteem and therefore putting him through fucking DIY ABA didn't make her happy.

🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

anyway if you couldn't tell i can't fucking stand sdmi velma and i have a lot of words in me about it. when one of your main heroes would have made a way more compelling villain as they are, on a more mundane level compared to all the wild fantastical shit they go up against, holy shit go back to the drawing board you have fucked up. she could have been genuinely good representation of a marginalized person dealing with the trauma of her experiences in some shitty ways she has to grow past, and an interesting flawed character, without being absolutely despicable--hell, she'd have made a great foil to pericles if they'd handled him decently too. they have a lot of parallels, which only gain more depth when you add their respective parallels with cassidy into the mix. and it really fucking sucks that we got this instead.

[xarrixii]

F/B Chapter_50 : "Dead-End Road"

CW: mention of child abuse, shitty parenting

TL;DR: Liam and Amaterasu pick Harlow up from pyrokinetic rehab and meet Lukas.

previous chapter | beginning | masterlist | next chapter

/ / / / / | ---

“A six-month stay? Are you nuts?” Liam says before even fully inside the room. Amaterasu trails in behind, arms folded against her chest. Both have blurred lanyards swinging with their movements. “I mean, shit, kid, you’re lucky she likes having you on her team, or there’d be nobody to bail you out of this one. How’d you get six fucking months?”

This was new.

“Do you have any idea just how long it took to even figure out you were in here at all? Just up and disappear one day, I mean, fuck, kid, you decide you like prison more than your job?”

Harlow pulled the thread through, looking Liam up and down. Then Amaterasu, who fiddled with a… pencil? in place of a cigarette.

“Are you⸺ Are you fucking sewing with your mouth?” The silliness of the idea seemed to knock the anger out of Liam, who realized to shut the sliding door. “Holy shit this is boring.”

Harlow takes the threaded needle out from his mouth as gently as possible.

He’d been in for maybe a month. Liam was looking at him like there was something that still didn’t add up, and reiterated his most important question, “Kid, six months? You? How?”

“I hit my little brother and viciously assaulted my mother with unfiltered pyrokinesis,” Harlow answered in a voice he reserved for pissing people off.

Amaterasu barked out a laugh and Harlow barely caught it when Liam shot her a glare.

“Okay, kid, that’s real funny. What’s the real reason?”

“I showed up at home because my mother hit him. I stopped thinking, and I went at her. I think for a second she was actually afraid of me.” Harlow looked down. “Then the district officers showed up, saw a crazed pyrokinetic, and the rest is history.”

Liam let out a seething breath. “Christ. When Jesus figured out that he could manipulate water, this was not what he intended for the world.”

A pause.

“Six months is too short for that.”

“Yeah,” Harlow laughed. “Yeah it is.”

Amaterasu cleared her throat. “There will be no bailing out until you turn that money into extra time, Harlow. Good for you that you seem to be an investment worth paying the useless hounds in office a few bucks.” The pencil snaps in her hand. “Although Nacht might involve them anyway at this rate. It’s like a damn switch has flipped, he’s suddenly up everyone’s ass, though up mine the most. Asshole.”

Harlow’s hands clenched inside the metal prisons. “Right. Uh, the doors aren’t soundproof. There’s kids around here, so if we could stop the swearing, that would be great.”

Amaterasu stared at him with that same deadpan she always looked at anyone with. Like she was still deciding how interested she was or not. Blinked, holding the broken pencil pieces as though they were cigarettes. She continued on, “Which means you’re going to be taking missions from central, and not Liam anymore. My organization needs you on the more important target right now, which Liam here doesn’t seem to understand.”

“I understand,” Liam snaps back. “But he⸺ They must’ve smeared those anti-kinetic plants everywhere. Kid, can you leave for a second?”

Harlow looked at Liam’s lanyard. The letters were blurry from distance.

So he did. Jammed his shoulder into the stupid sliding door slot until it was closed behind him in the hallway, rolling his shoulder that had bumped the frame and groaning. Long-time, sixteen-year-old ward Lukas Peters chuckled at him. “The kinds of stuff you get into to get away from here, huh?”

Harlow leaned against his door frame with the open door and slid down to the floor, sighing with a similar laugh. “You have no idea.”

“Some,” Lukas said back. “I have some.” Then, “I better never see you on the news. I’ll be very upset.”

“What if you already have?” He let himself smile with a raised eyebrow.

Lukas snorted. Laughed.

“⸺loses his mind,” he heard from his cell. Harlow frowned.

“He’s also the only damn person Alph wouldn’t be willing to fight.”

“Raiden,” Liam corrected. “Raiden wouldn’t be willing to fight.”

Lukas crouched down next to Harlow, and Harlow shouldered him lightheartedly. Lukas shouldered Harlow back. Dropped at a hat. Decade of asking no one to share it with him, and it was out.

“My point stands.”

“No, it doesn’t. You’re asking someone mentally unstable to fight all of your battles because you’re too damn tired to. Don’t give me the ‘my fire was genetically fucked with,’ fucking train it. When I first got here you could light your own cigarette, and now you’re afraid to blow up the room ‘cause you don’t bother using it. Every time Storm gets involved, he loses his shit. No. He’s not doing that.”

“That’s not your choice, Liam.”

“And where does it say it’s your choice? As far as I’m concerned your ‘contracts’ are more of a threat to woo peoples’ daddies and take all the assets in the divorce. Leave him out of this fight.”

Lukas snorted through the muffled argument. “I honestly can’t tell who is on your side here.”

“I am not going to lose ground because Nacht managed to sack my own fucking kid. Alph—that’s what Storm is calling them now—is that asshole’s personal fucking dog. And you know Nacht. You know not one word will get through to Alph with that cultist prick as the ventriloquist. Harlow is the only damn operative I have that can talk any kind of sense into my kid.”

“That’s why you don’t care. This is about your pride as a mother, not about how anyone else feels about it.”

“I care well enough. I’d be high if I didn’t at least give half a fuck about anything Alph cares about. I think you’re fucking sheltering the kid because you’re afraid he’s going to see something.”

“Nacht killed his own fucking wife!” Liam shouts. Lukas cringes back, but Harlow continues to stare blankly at the door. “As soon as Nacht gets any kind of inkling what Urban’s done to his kid’s fucking arm, he’s gone. He’s dead. The further he is from Storm, I’m hoping the less Nacht gives a flying fuck about him.”

Lukas climbed over Harlow and slammed a foot into the sliding notch, yanking it angrily.

“Hey assholes,” Lukas yells in the hallway. “It’s not fucking soundproof!”

Amaterasu turns. Liam shrinks back.

Someone starts clambering down the cell hall when Lukas scoffs and pivots to bow at Harlow. He uses it to wrap his arms around and get up just before one of the rehab personnel grabs onto Lukas and yanks him.

“Put him down,” Amaterasu seethes. “Put the fucking kid down!”

The employee stops trying to jerk Lukas every which way and Amaterasu’s blurred face twists at Lukas. She curses. Harlow stares at her lanyard, and it has a small colored stamp on it that Liam’s doesn’t. He can’t make out the shape well, but it terrifies the employee.

“Ma’am,” she utters fast. “That’s my bad.”

Oh, Harlow drops. That’s right, isn’t it?

“You, you have somewhere to go?” Amaterasu very calmly cocks her head at Lukas.

He nods. “Yeah, I’ve got a mom. It was—my dad’s the reason I’m here.”

Amaterasu glared back at the employee, then. “Go tell one of your fucking superiors to be useful and bail these two out.” Liam looked at her like she was nuts as the employee gave a weak thumbs-up and scuttled off. Lukas blinked twice and looked at Harlow with full-arm pointing between him and Amaterasu.

“Sorry, um,” Lukas started and Amaterasu hushed him.

“Don’t bring it up.”

Liam put his head in his hand, yanked with a groan, and cursed in some foreign language. “Matty, and what if he didn’t have anywhere to go? ‘Cause he sure as hell wasn’t coming with us.”

“You started younger,” Amaterasu joked. Liam waved a hand around as she shrugged. “It’s why I asked first.”

“That’s the worst thing you’ve said this month.”

Amaterasu closed her eyes and twirled her broken pencil, seemingly amused.

“Liam can you, um, grab my glasses?” Harlow laughed awkwardly. This hallway was going to burst. Liam seemed questioning, but looked back in the room and came back out with them.

“Since when have you worn these?”

“Don’t I wear them in front of you?” Harlow thought for a minute. “Actually, it’s probably been contacts. I can’t remember the last time I wore glasses.”

Liam put them on Harlow’s face, and then Harlow struggled to adjust them with his shoulder. He blinked. There it was, on Amaterasu’s lanyard. Big capital I, pink dot. He’d seen it maybe twice before.

“You look like a dork,” Lukas said.

“You’re gonna look like a dork trying to figure out how hands work,” Harlow shot back.

“I know how hands work.”

“Gonna feel panic looking at a doorknob. Get confused when someone asks you to open a combination lock. Feel crippling embarrassment when someone asks you to help them up and you bow.”

Lukas scoffed. “You know I’ve had disposable thumbs before, right?”

“And the last time you used them was, what, seven?”

“Oh, pack up pretty boy.”

“Low blow,” Liam comments.

Amaterasu stops the banter by snapping the already broken pencil pieces in half again. “Hurry up with whatever you have to do. I need a cigarette. Liam, help your responsibility.”

Liam was a little too excited to drag Harlow into the room and shut the door.

“Kid⸺”

“What did you mean?” Harlow kept his voice even.

“The—the what? Kid, how much did you hear?”

“Since the part where you said I lose my mind. Forget about it. You’re right. It doesn’t matter. What do you mean Nacht’s going to want me dead?”

Liam rubbed his nose. “He’s very... protective of his family.” A sigh. “A lot of this is a story for another day, but the main points right now are that, at least when I was in Storm, no one was allowed to touch his wife or his kid, and they weren’t allowed to go picking fights with any of Nacht’s siblings. So, like, Amat, Stalk, you know.

“Some shit happened, his wife’s dead, Nacht doesn’t discipline or allow anyone to discipline Raijin unless it’s concerning Storm itself, even then only he can do that, and you end up with a spoiled little shit who Nacht would let ruin the country after he does.

“And you... you kind of lit up Raijin’s arm. Nacht won’t take kindly to that, and Raijin’s gonna fuel that because he knows how to get what he wants.”

Harlow made a bitter laugh. “Which is me dead.”

“Likely. That’s why I’m trying to make sure Nacht sees less reports of you.”

Harlow shakes his head, even when Liam’s not turned to look, speed-packing Harlow’s bag for him like it was a sport. “As much as I’d like to play it safe and help with keeping the average criminal in check, Storm is a far larger issue. You know we have the ability to tip off the cops on anything we catch that isn’t Storm, right? They’re not entirely incompetent.”

Liam zips the bag. “We know, but that would cause panic at a sudden crime increase. Involving the cops in dealing with our business is a last resort.”

next chapter | masterlist

/ / / / / | --- missing a content warning? let me know

so i've run into a pickle now because next week's chapter is not done being written and, uh, i need to find time to write that.

anyway this chapter was done but i edited some of the dialogue last minute cause it didn't make sense to me. you didn't need to know that. you never would've known. but now you do. extra credit if you can guess which two sections of dialogue i changed.

taglist (ask to go on or off): @lychhiker-writes, @madeoforgansandtissues, @fins0up, @kadjakat

[villainanders]

Stumbled on your Vivienne unpopular opinion post and honestly you hit on something that like. Like what the pro and anti Vivienne factions both miss is how she's extremely fear driven as a character. Which surprises people because of the whole Ice Queen (haha) unflappable demeanor but like. She is SO terrified all the time and it slips out in all these little ways, especially when she's interacting with someone like Cole who reminds her of how tenuous her whole situation is. Its such a huge influence on her (generally pretty bad) politics but its why I have a hard time holding it against her. She still has something to lose by Thedas being in chaos like this, and that's both a sign of her privilege and inherently something that SHOULD slow down casting her as just mean for no reason

this is an EXCELLENT point. i was just thinking about her argument to the inquisitor where she basically says she believes that if mages have legal freedom they'll be hunted down by the common people out of fear. this is a very real and justifiable fear for her, but also a deeply limiting argument that relies on assuming that any system outside of the one she's used to must be worse. (i'm too lazy to hunt down the specifics of these conversations but i also recall her having conversations with my vashoth and dalish inquisitors where she invoked qunari treatment of mages and bioware's shitty retcon about dalish mages to explain how the circles are better than the alternative.)

vivienne has mastered surviving and even thriving in the current system, and the outcome to the mage-templar war could undo her entire lifetime of work. she's an incredibly clever woman and i don't think could have politically leveraged herself nearly so well if she wasn't fully aware of her own situation, but i'd imagine it takes some serious cognitive dissonance in order to cope with that and conduct herself at the level she does. she's terrified of losing the current system, because it has to be the best possible option, and she's too afraid to entertain the idea that it's not the best possibility because of what that means for what her life has actually been

[syscourse-confessions]

Opinion as a (mixed origin) traumagenic system with DID: endogenic systems are completely valid. Just being multiple people in one body is not limited to being caused by trauma, and even if it were, do people really think brains never mess up and press the "trauma" button in the absence of trauma (obviously it's more complex than a button, but point is, as complex as brains are, sometimes they replicate processes that are usually a response to stimuli without that stimuli present).

Being a traumagenic system doesn't give you authority on whether or not endogenic systems exist, honestly. Endogenic systems have that authority. That's like saying "well I'm a trans man/woman so I'm an authority on ALL trans experiences including all genders of trans people". Also literally definitionally if you are fully traumagenic you have zero experience with being endogenic and therefore zero authority to talk about it.

The only reason I mention being traumagenic is to point out that not all traumagenic systems agree with sysmeds and to support my endogenic friends. I love them and I think it's incredibly shitty how people literally drive them to the point of intense derealization and depersonalization just for being a system in "the wrong way". It's cruel and utterly unnecessary. No one's*existence* is inherently harmful and 99 percent of the supposed "harm" endogenics are claimed to do is straight up lies.

But just for sysmeds and anti-endos: you harmed and traumatized my system with your constant fakeclaiming. You worsened our dissociation and delayed our realization of both our plurality and some of our trauma. We have worsened amnesia and dissociative barriers to this day because of you.

Endogenic and mixed origin systems have done so much to help us heal. We've very rarely met shitty endogenic systems but quite honestly we've met far more shitty traumagenic systems and singlets both than we've met endogenic systems TOTAL. Think about your behavior. Really sit with it. If you're okay with being a bully so that you can feel you're "fighting back" against hateful ableist singlets, that's on you.

But pro-tip: lashing out against your own community and further driving away people who could join you in collective action for the purpose of liberation is helping no one. It's just a trauma reaction driving you to want to hurt others the way you've been hurt. And get this, the ones you can actually reach? The ones that you CAN hurt in that way? They aren't your oppressors or abusers because they don't have any actual power over you.

.

[kivaember]

woe, ftm walter be upon ye (yes this is actually canon to apv btw)

Somedays, Carla had to laugh at how far she'd fallen.

Well-respected Institute scientist, lauded for her efforts in the C-weapon project and incorporating Coral into AI neural networks... reduced to a penniless scrapper in the underbelly of one of Ganymede's colonies, barely making ends meet because of the UEG's broken form of capitalism.

It was intentional to an extent, though. If it had just been her, riding the massive wave of Rubiconian refugees after the Fires had slagged their planet to smouldering ash, she would've thrust her hand up high and declared her credentials at the immigration office. The UEG had hoovered up every single scientist or technician it could get its greedy little paws on in the aftermath, and from what Carla had seen they were living it large right now. A luxurious little corporate cage as they regurgitated all of Rubicon's little technological miracles for the UEG to warp and manipulate.

She hoped they choked on their feed, honestly, but she was self-aware enough to know that would've been her too, if she'd been alone. But she wasn't.

"Hey, Walter! It's time to close up shop!"

Her voice rang across their large, open garage, cluttered with broken down machinery and mechs alike, a literal maze of trip hazards and health violations that would've gotten her shutdown if this was on the surface. But it wasn't. No one gave a shit what anyone did down here in the slums, so long as their little worker bees kept on working, kept on producing... and didn't, gasp, form unions.

Carla was a one-man show, though- okay, technically three, if you counted Walter and Chatty, but she was wisely keeping away from that business. All power to the people and all that, fuck the bourgeois, eat the rich, etc, etc, but Carla had a purpose she was gunning for, and social liberation didn't come under that. So, for now, it was just her and Walter, working in a deathtrap of a scrapper garage, with Chatty sitting quietly in the background pretending to be dumb security system rather than a fully fledged AI (that can and has ran circles around the security AIs on Ganymede - lots of dirty laundry in many people's drawers on this moon).

A groaning, screeching rattle echoed through the garage, signifying the shutter doors being closed. Carla pushed herself up from where she'd been squatting over a dismembered construction mech arm, trying to extract the intact gyroscopes inside. These things sold pretty sell second hand... or third... or fourth... well, you got the idea.

"Oof, all this bending over is ruining my back..." she grumbled, pressing her oil-stained hands against her lower back and applying pressure, feeling how tight and knotted it was. "I feel old as shit."

"You are old as shit."

Carla scoffed and turned to see Walter lurking in the shadows like the anti-social freak that he was. His brown hair was a little flyaway than usual, darkened from where he'd accidentally rubbed oil into it from his hands, and his mechanic jumpsuit was partially unzipped, his pale skin faintly flushed from exertion and damp with sweat.

He was a lot more modest about the unzipping, though. Carla had whacked hers down all the way to the midriff, because this shitty garage got hot no matter how much she tried finangling some kind of air conditioning down here. The air was too full of smog and other pollutants that trapped heat and discouraged the human way of cooling down via sweat evaporation. It was a torturous existence... and made Carla and Walter walk around like they were auditioning for some kind of "Mechanics Gone Wild!" calendar.

"Hey, you shouldn't be backtalking your boss like that!" Carla mock-scolded, planting her hands on her hips. "What if I decided to dock your pay?"

"Well, you'd have to pay me first," Walter said flatly, pinching the front of his jumpsuit and flapping it slightly to cool himself down. "I'm working here for free, remember?"

"Oh yeah. That's true," Carla hummed, cupping her jaw thoughtfully. "Well! Carry on, then! Can't control you if I'm not in charge of your pay, haha!"

Walter rolled his eyes, forever unimpressed with her cavalier attitude and jokes, despite her best attempts. He was too much like his father sometimes, though Carla knew better than to say that. Walter had more daddy issues than an entire soap opera cast combined, and the one time she'd made a comment about how Walter was looking more like his father now that he was a little older and.... brrrrr! The dark side of the moon had been tropical in comparison!

this kid, she thought exasperatedly, he needs to loosen up...

"Got any plans tonight?" she asked as they made their way to the rear of the garage, where they both lived out of. It wasn't anything impressive compared to their immaculate lodgings on the Xylem in another lifetime, but compared to the rest of the gutter rats around here, they were living it up large. Two bedrooms for privacy and their own kitchen and bathroom with functioning plumbing? They were like royalty! Royal rats, the pair of them, hah.

"None," Walter replied. "Why, do you need me for something?"

"Yeah, as a chaperone," Carla teased, nudging him with her elbow. "We should hit up the bars. You're an adult now, you should be living it large before we've gotta focus on the job."

Walter's expression said he'd rather belly crawl over barbed wire.

"I'd rather belly crawl over barbed wire," he said.

"Aw, c'mon! Stop being a Debbie Downer." Carla nudged him with her elbow, and weaved out of the way when he tried to nudge her back. "You're really going to leave me hanging? Leave your old as shit guardian to wander the bars alone... defenceless... helpless against any ne'er-do-wells-"

Walter snorted. "You're anything but helpless. If anything I should be protecting the local population from you, cougar."

"Cougar! Well, you're right. I do like my men young and cute," Carla teased with a wink, just to see his reaction. Which was....!!! Nothing. Guy didn't even flinch.

"Right. So, I'd just cramp your cougar style," Walter said simply. "Being a cute young man and all. They'd all think you're taken... or asking for a threesome. I wouldn't want to ruin your night like that."

"Hm." Carla was reluctantly amused. "You've gotten very sassy, Walter."

"That's your fault."

Yup, and she was proud of it. Walter had been such a humourless little thing as a child - through no fault of his own, admittedly. Growing up in the Xylem had been a lonely, neglectful existence, and being uprooted from that to flee to a colony that viewed him as nothing but an unwanted mouth to feed just compounded whatever fucked up issues that childhood of neglect had lain the foundations for. It made sense that whatever sense of humour Carla tried to impart in him turned all warped and twisted and a little mean.

But! Humour was humour! When things got bad, all you had to do was laugh! Walter wasn't the laughing type, but she'd take this! Better than nothing!

"Well, you're coming out anyway," she said. "No ifs or buts! You've just been rotting away in your room, brooding about pointless crap. Just come out and have a few drinks. Unwind a little."

"No."

"I'll have Chatty recite all the poetry I wrote since we left-"

"Okay, just a few drinks," Walter immediately u-turned.

Hah. Gottem.

-

If growing up with Carla taught Walter one thing, it was learning how to pick his battles.

He wasn't a drinker, and the bars down in the slums were as seedy as you'd expected: the alcohol was moonshine or contrabrand, drugs were commonly traded in the background, and there was always a risk of the Ganymede Guards crashing the party to arrest a few people for encouraging socialist gatherings. Walter just didn't see the point in getting involved in that crap, but Carla always was seduced by dangerous or ill-advised things.

She also had a short attention span. As they stood at the bar, knocking back the probably toxic swill being sold, Carla eventually got pulled away by some people she knew in the scrapping business, her obnoxiously loud laughter audible even over the ambient chatter.

Walter took that as his cue to finish his drink and leave.

Broken glass crunched under his boots as he stepped out into the street, burying his hands into the pockets of his mechanic jumpsuit. The air was smoggy and thick with a wet, unpleasant smell, making him feel like he was in a rancid sauna, and he unzipped his jumpsuit that little bit more, fanning himself.

He couldn't wait to leave this place.

From the moment he had stepped foot on this damned moon, he had despised every inch of it. The Xylem had been cold and loveless, yes, but the air hadn't stank of exhaust, it wasn't constantly hot and humid, with changing seasons and weather, he could see the sky and watch the birds fly, his hands would only have the callouses from holding a pen, rather than being rough and worn like leather from constant handling of scrapping tools and sticky oil. Walter's life would be very different, if his father hadn't ruined everything.

He stopped in front of the door to his and Carla's living quarters in the garage, digging out the key from his pocket and slotting it in. When he stepped inside, he was greeted with Chatty saying: "Welcome back, kid. Is the Chief still out?"

"Yeah." Walter kicked the door shut behind him. "Talking shop with some people."

"Understood."

And that was that. Despite the name Chatty was pretty quiet, which was why he and Walter got along well. He headed up the narrow staircase to his room, which was sandwiched between Carla's room and the bathroom, and just wide enough to slot a single-man bed in there with enough room for him to actually get in and out of it.

Walter felt grimy as hell, so he shed his boots and jumpsuit entirely, tossing the soiled clothing onto the floor before walking, completely naked, to the bathroom, yanking the cord to turn the light on. As he shut the door behind him, he looked at the cracked mirror Carla had broken when bolting onto the wall. She'd laughed that her luck was already so bad that this should cancel it out.

His reflection was uncomfortably familiar.

As a child, he'd been told often that he looked a lot like his mother. Standard biases, of course: for a considerable chunk of his childhood, he'd stayed as his assigned sex, a quiet little daughter that was easily forgotten about by most people. The moment he'd stepped out of that easily assigned box, became a son hungry for attention instead of the quiet daughter, people immediately switched to well, he's looking a lot like his father nowadays, isn't he?

Truth was, Walter had looked like both of them. He had his mother's bone structure, but his father's eyes, and his hair was a combination of them both: slightly wavy where his mother's was curly and his father's completely straight. He hadn't really put much stock into his appearance back then, anyways. He'd been ten. He just wanted people to call him Walter. What did it matter who he looked more like at the time?

Now, though, he looked in the mirror and saw his father.

What lingering remnants of his mother were easily overlooked by the sharp line of his jaw and the shape of his eyes, his hair cropped short enough that it was hard to see the slight waviness. He lowered his gaze, to his body which was well-toned with muscle from years of hauling heavy machinery and scrap, his shoulders broad and his trunk solid enough that it partially hid the slight curve of his hips. Didn't do anything to hide his breasts, but he already had a plan for those, if this Furlong Dynamics pilot recruitment programme worked out.

It was strange, though. The more he carved away the parts that were like his mother, the more his father shone through, and the more complicated Walter felt about the whole thing. He hated his father, despised him from the very depths of his soul, regretted every day his failed attempt to kill him before everything went completely pear-shaped... and now he was even tainting this, having Walter's stomach clench and his face tighten at his reflection, at the ghost of his father hidden in there.

He wasn't the same as him, though... he was going to put to rights what Dr Kohler had done wrong. He'd make it so he could look himself at the mirror without wanting to flinch... either because he'd succeed in destroying the Coral for good, or because he'd die in the process. Either or.

"Kid. You've been staring at the mirror for five minutes."

"I'm fine," Walter said, anticipating Chatty's follow up question. He turned away and turned on the shower, watching as the metallic smelling water spluttered out of the showerhead sluggishly. "Just thinking."

"Hm."

Chatty left it there, and Walter neatly compartmentalised his complicated feelings and stuffed them under the figurative bed. It was a pointless thing to brood about, didn't contribute at all towards his mission. Being Walter was a selfish self-indulgence anyways, the one thing he allowed himself, despite the looming pressure of the trials to come.

What did it matter who he looked liked? That legacy was going to be buried, one way or another.

[kedsandtubesocks]

erika dear 🥺 tell me why this... somehow makes me think of my mando bakugou ??? i think it's because of the high neck maybe !!! it's so casual but idk !!! when he takes it all off maybe...😏 BUT MAYBE I JUST ALWAYS HAVE HIM ON MY MIND ALRHAODHAKKA

My darling Willow why is tumblr like this and not sending the link I’m gonna SHAKE THIS BLUE SITE WITH MY BARE HANDS!!

(edit - Willow sent me the link via messages we are so blessed: https://www.tumblr.com/vaporzzz/715171240310128640/happy-birthday-bakugou?source=share)

But the visual of a high neck…it’s too real because the mandalorian flight suit that most of them wear is thick and covers up a lot so it’s not risqué in any sense but it still reveals so much at the same time??

Like can you imagine the first time you notice it?? It would be when you have to heal his grumpy metal head. A blaster shot had managed to snag the sweet spot between his neck and shoulder not covered by his beskar shoulder pauldron. He goes feral, angered that he is wounded. And when you use the force to heal the wound, after having to snap at him, your hands press against the wound. It’s then you realize he wears a full layer beneath the armor.

But the actual time ever seeing him fully just in the flight suit?? OOF!

It’s late one night when a mandalorian cruiser ship returns back to the home planet but in a screeching clash. It shakes up the entire community. Everyone, including you, runs out into the night to check on the ship and it’s crew.

Thankfully the ship took most of the damage and everyone inside makes it back rather unscathed.

You help the medics with anything they need and even use the force to move debris getting in the way. In the heat of it Bakugou yells orders the entire time.

He is a fierce but strangely enough comfort during the whole ordeal. You can’t help it. You turn to check on his loud metal ass.

Bakugou stands hands on his hips talking with the pilot of the ship, his loud voice now composed and even comforting.

You think maybe it’s not him at first because he is not in full armor. The black painted beskar and white strip out lining the t visor is the dead give away that it’s him. However, it feels as if you are seeing him for the first time. No…it is the first time seeing him and realizing that he is a man. You wonder maybe a wild rancor has rammed into your stomach because you have to catch your breathe.

The black flight suit completely covers him, doesn’t even allow an complete image of how toned his arms are. It instead extenuates his broad shoulders. You notice his tapered waist and how sturdy his entire chest appears.

Bakugou looks strong, built, maybe even stronger out of armor and it does not make any sense! It makes you want to scream!

You should not be down right staring at this man, this mandalorian, especially not just during a time like this. And ship crash accident or not, the lightsaber quiet on your hip is a silent judgmental weight and reminder why you should not be thinking these thoughts.

With a firm inhale to keep yourself composed you jog over to help Kirishima and a few others.

The rest of the night you avoid even glancing at Bakugou. Even when he yells at you-

“Shitty Jedi, you alright?”

“Yeah I’m good!” Is all you yell back. You don’t even turn towards him because it is taking so much strength to not simply turn around and stare at him.

You even have to force yourself not to just think about Bakugou or image of his shoulders, or the way you want to imagine how sturdy his chest feels-

A horrified panic seeps in from just thinking of that and it closes your throat.

All you can do is exhale loud and shakily.

“Hey, you okay?” Sweet Kirishima asks and now you’re embarrassed even more.

You turn to him with a bright nod. “Yup all good.”

A lie, an awful poisonous one you need to find anti venom for and fast.

This feels like a test from the force and you hate that it’s one you might already be failing…